Sign.



W. E. McLAREN.

SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1915.

Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

SSE W G7: ytllgl igNTOR I 77/ BY A ORNEYS.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. WILLIAM E. Minn; or NEW YORK, N. Y., ass'renon TO THE DANZELO saLEsoom- PANY, me, or NEW YORK, N.- Y., A conroaarion- 9r NEW YORK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. MCLAREN,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements'in Signs, of which the. following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in signs, and more particularly to that class of signs in which the characters are removably and replaceably held so that the subjectmatter thereof may be readily and conveniently changed as occasion demands.

Among the objects of the present invention are the improvement of devices of this character in numerous important particulars; the provision of a supporting member for the characters, as numbers or letters,

which is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture and in whlch the characters, while securely held, may readily be inserted and removed or replaced; the provision of a plurality of holding members associated together in a frame in such manner that the frame may be readily collapsed so as to take up less space, as in packing for shipment; the provision of means whereby the character holding frame may be readily securedto any supporting member, as the glass of a show window; and the provision of characters, such' as numbers or letters,

having a projection formed thereon which is adapted to be received in and hidden by the holding member when the sign is arranged for display. Such project ons may and preferably are of such form and shape. as to give an automaticall of the characters in the ho ding mem er, or

correct 5 aclng they may serve simply .as a securing and holding means without having this automatical spacing feature.- With the foregoing and related objects in view, my invention consists in the parts, improvements and [combinations herein set forth and claimed.

In the accompariiiying drawing forming a part of this spec'i cation, and wherein the same reference numerals are applied uniformly to designate the same parts through-- out, Figure 1 is a front elevational view partly in cross section of one form of frame containing sign characters and constructed in accordance with my inventlon. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2,.Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a. fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov, 13 1917 Application filed Iu1y 23, 1915. Serial Illo. 41,448. i

x 3-3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view on a larger scale showing the preferred form of holder. Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the holding member with a sign character in place therein and held thereby, and Fig. 6

frame of the form shown in Fig. 1 may be is a diagrammatical view showing how a collapsed in order to lessen the amount of space taken up thereby;

The character holding members are provided with a groovefor receiving the pro-.

insertion will spring together and securely i hold the same in place, but nevertheless will readily permit the removal and replacement of the. characters at will. f

Such holding member is designated by the reference numeral 10 in the drawing and the walls 11, 11 thereof are preferably converged toward one another near their open edges until they come nearly or partly into contact with one another, and are preferably provided with outwardly tapering lips 12, 12 to facilitate theins'ertion of sign characters.

One or as many more of such sign character holding members as may be desired are provided, and when a plurality of such-holding members are provided the same are pref-' erably arranged n a frame with the char .acter holdingmembers referably arranged horizontall and paral el to one another, though different arrangements may be resorted to if desired. A desirable form of such frame work arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 1, in which there are three of the character holding members 10 arranged horizontally and parallel to oneanother and connected together 'by-connecting members 13. Such connecting members may be of va rious forms. As shown in the drawing, these members 13 have the form of bars and the same are pivotally secured to the lowermost and uppermost of the members 10 as by screws or rivets 14. When it is desired to I provide means for securin such a sign to a surface such as a show wm o w, vacuum cups 15 may be provided for this purpose, and

with a frame of the sort shown in' Fig. 1 they may be and preferably are arranged midway from the top to the bottom thereof and secured in place 'by the same means which pivotally secure the intermediate member 10 to the bars 13, in the form shown 1 a bolt 16 and nut 16' being provided for this purpose.

lVith such arrangement, the holding members l0 and crosswise connecting members 13 being pivotally secured to 'one another, the frame may readily be collapsed edgewise, as shown in Fig. 6, so that considerably less room is required for storage of the frame when collapsed and smaller shipping containers may be used.

The sign characters 17 are provided with' projecting portions 18 adapted to enter the grooves in the holding members with the holding members arranged with their grooves opening vertically, upward. "With such a holder these projecting portions 18.

i are provided on the lowermost part of the sign characters and are adapted to fit in the grooves in the holder, as clearly shown in characters to be automatically spaced .in proper relation by the insertion of the proj ection 18 thereof into grooves, such projec tions belonging to adjacent characters lying snugly against one another as is shown in Fig. 1. This, however, is not essential and such projections need not be so extended; in such case the judgment or taste of the person inserting the characters being relied upon to secure a pleasin arrangement.

M It is to be understoo that the precise construction shown is for the purpose of illustration and for affording a'elear under-- standing of my invention only, and that my invention is not limited thereto, but that de-- partures therefrom and modifications therein may be resorted to 'within the scope of my claim and Without departing from my invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention,I

claimr In a portable sign, a frame having longitudinal members adapted to detachably receive sign characters and rigid end members ivotally connecting the longitudinal memiiers, all of said members being in substantially the same plane whereby said frame is rendered collapsible in said plane, and suction cups attached to the side of the frame whereby it may be secured substantially parallel and close up to a supporting surface.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I

have hereto set my hand, this 20th day of July, 1915.

WILLIAM E. MoLAREN. 

